


All The Roads Lead to You

by Kaaaaath



Series: Every Now and Then the Stars Align [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Implied Mpreg, M/M, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:42:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29780478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaaaaath/pseuds/Kaaaaath
Summary: "You know how you always want to date someone better than your ex?”“Yeah?”“How do you do that if your ex is Captain freaking America?”
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Every Now and Then the Stars Align [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2188857
Comments: 4
Kudos: 49





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> a continuation from [the backest day](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29129835)

Tony leaned forward the kitchen counter, eyeing the kid sitting in front of him, bibs on her neck smeared with cheese sauce along with her face and her hand

“ok, jellybean we’ve been over this, if you eat all of your broccoli, I will give you one cookie”

“no”

“that’s a non-negotiable”

“no” she laughed and waving her spoon splattering cheese on the counter

“Morgan” Tony raised one of his eyebrows when a portal near them opened

“Tony Stark, I'm Doctor Stephen Strange. I need you to come with me. Oh, uh, congratulations on the baby, by the way.”

“how did you get here? This is private property” Tony moved and shield the child from the stranger in front of them

“well magic of course” the stranger pointing at the portal behind him “we need your help, the fate of the universe is at stake.”

“whose _we_?”

Bruce Banner emerged behind Stephen Strange “hi Tony” he waves 

“Bruce?” Tony looked so surprised and step forward hugging his friend

“hey Tony, whose kid is this? Oh my god are you and Pepper… wait… no way, but last time you were with Ste..”

“Bruce, breathe… slow down, what’s happening?”

“he’s coming”

**

Sanctum Sanctorum

“From the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then, boom! The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals, hurtling across the virgin universe. These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence.” 

Tony eyeing the strange man with robe waving his hand around projecting six colorful gems

“Space. Reality. Power. Soul. Mind. And Time.” Each stone glows when Stephen Strange said the stone’s name

Tony rose from his seat and picking up Morgan who are too focused looking at the glowing stones in awe tried her best to touch the gems. “This is it... huh? Oh my gosh it was real i knew I wasn’t crazy. Why is no body’s around when I was right?” Tony muttered pacing around with Morgan in his hand frustrated because she can’t reach the stone near her

“dada, no” she squirms and tried to get down and tried to grab one of the stone again

“What's our timeline?” 

“No telling. He has the Power and Space Stones, that already makes him the strongest creature in the whole universe. If he gets his hands, on all six Stones, Tony. We need to find Vision”

Tony swore he can feel something is punching his gut “huh… well… so here’s the thing, about Vision..”

“what do you mean?”

“well… he kind of, um.. turned off his transponder, he’s offline”

“……. You lost another robot?”

“I did not lose him per se, he’s evolving, you know, like… almost a normal person. Emphasis on almost. I mean he did kind of-”

“who could find him then?” Stephen Strange cut his rambles

Tony muttered under his breath “shit” scratching his head “probably Steve Rogers”

 _"oh great!”_ Stephen Strange sighed in exasperation

“well… I mean _maybe_ I’m not sure, but…”

“call him”

“wha… it’s not that easy. Gosh we haven’t caught up haven’t we?”

“no”

“we were kind of… broken up” Tony shrugged “well the avengers, I mean”

“like the Beatles broken up, or...”

“well, I supposed so, although I’m not sure if I was the Yoko, I mean if you think about it…”

“Tony, listen to me, Thor is gone, you are our only hope”

“quoting Star Wars won’t work on me… I just... we’re not on speaking terms, he’s probably on his honeymoon in god knows where’s the country of the week they stayed. he didn’t even know about Morgan” he glanced at his daughter who now playing with the tip of the red cloak handing her the glowing stones so she can play with the stones on the floor “look, how am I…”

“Tony…”

Tony hesitated, sighing exasperatedly pulling out the flip phone from his pocket “stupid outdated flip phone” he muttered, flipping the phone showing the only contact saved on the phone pressing the call button only to stop and look at Stephen Strange

“Say, Doc, you wouldn't happen to be moving your hair, would you?”

“not at the moment, no”

“do me a favor, open the portal to Avengers compound and send Morgan to James Rhodes before we open the door”

Stephen Strange lift his hand and open the orange circles, Tony grabs the protesting kid on his arms and alerting F.R.I.D.A.Y on his glasses

“Fri, alert Rhodey about The Boss Baby Protocol, told him to take care of her while we handle the situation in the city. What am I looking at here, girl?”

“not sure boss”

“let’s do plan number one then, attack”

**

“hi Mr Stark”

“Pete… what are you doing here?”

“I was in the middle of a field trip. No big deal, what’s this guy problem?”

“uh... He's from space. He came here to steal a necklace from a wizard.”

“I’m on it”

“Bruce if you’re thinking about joining the party, _now_ would be a great time for us to meet the other guy”

“well, we’ve been having a thing for a moment here might need a while”

Tony rolled his eyes, oh great. We’re fighting aliens and the other angry guy is having performance issues.

**

Steve Rogers didn’t recognize the tone at first two rings, he almost dropped the phone when he finally realized where the sound came from. Hand shaking, mind blank and didn’t know what to do, he flipped the phone and answering the call

“Tony” his breath shaking

“uh no, it’s Bruce, we need your help”

“off course, how can we help?”

“we need to find Vision”

“we’re on our way”

**

_”Home”_

A word he never thought he could utter anymore. Looking at the window to see the place he called home with only one person in is mind. 

“you alright Cap?”

“I’m fine. Just… aliens”

“… tell me about it”

Secretary Ross, the last face Steve Rogers want to see at the moment, or any kind of moment to be exact, telling Rhodey to arrest them. Fist itching to punch the hologram, Steve reach for a hug to the man in front of him when Rhodey wiped the hologram away.

“great to see you Cap”

“you too Rhodey” Noticing his leg braces, feeling a pang of guilt in his stomach “listen I-“ 

“DADA”

Steve stopped when he hears a kid stop running and staring at them. A confused little girl with puffy blue eyes staring at him. Sharing the same confused look, unable to turn away his gaze from the little girl in front of him

“who is that?” Sam finally found his voice and looking at everyone in confusion

“she’s mine” Rhodey immediately answer, ignoring the incredulous look everyone giving him “I’m babysitting” he shrugged “where’s Happy? You shouldn’t be here”

“no dada?”

“no kiddo, I’m sorry” he sighed “say goodbye to my friends here, and go find Happy, okay?”

The girl just nodded and waved goodbye at everyone and exiting the room back to Happy who running at her. Steve still staring unable to looked away just waved back at the closed door

“it’s Morgan” Rhodey startled him

“what?”

“her name, her name’s Morgan”

“ooh… okay”

“she’s the new avengers member?” Natasha, the only one who looked like able to managed her composure the whole time asked

“god forbid she’s joining this circus” Rhodey grimaced “you guys looked like crap by the way”

“I think you look great” Bruce walking at the opposite end of door “hi Nat”

“hi Bruce” 

“oh wow, if it wasn't awkward before…” Sam whispered

**

Steve standing in front of their old shared bedroom. Boxes in corner gathering dust and furniture covered in sheets. He took the covers down and open the drawer, his heart sank when he saw his old dog tag inside the drawer. Pocketing the dog tag, he moves forward to the box in the corner, finding his old sketchbook. Flipping the pages to find his drawings of tony in his workshop, the team playing games, and DUM-E on Santa’s hat. Feels like ages ago, He turned when he hears sounds behind him, the same little girl with brown hair and blue eyes looking back at him.

“Morgan, right? Hi again. I’m Steve”

The girl just waves and look around and raising her hand “up”

Steve just stared at her “ooh you want me to pick you up, right” he picked her up on his hand “why are you alone in here? Where’s your parents?”

She scratches his beard and giggling “like dada” 

“ooh your dad also have beard?”

She nodded “want dada”

“where’s your dad?”

She didn’t reply and just snuggled closer to him, she felt familiar, he noted. Reminds him of home. _his home_

“there you are, I was looking for you. oh Cap, you’re here... hi” Happy panting and reached for Morgan

“ooh, this is your daughter” Steve passed her to Happy but Morgan squirms 

“no” she snuggled closer

“yes, I mean no, I mean… I’m in charge of her until... whatever this is done”

“sure” he nodded and tried to passed her to Happy again “cute kid”

“she’s almost two, quite stubborn, and a great runner” Happy sighed “you done running around by yourself?” Happy tickled her side

“no” she giggled 

“it’s her favorite word of the week, I told her ‘no’ once and she keep repeating it” Happy rolled his eyes “come on, let’s go, say goodbye to uncle Rhodey. He’s leaving to save the world”

“bye Steeb” she waved at Steve and they leave the room

“bye kid” Steve just waved and looked around his room again

**

“Stark, we need to turn this ship around back to earth”

“oh _now_ he wants to run, great plan”

“I want to protect the stone”

“and I want you to thank me. Go ahead, I’m listening”

“For what? Nearly blasting me into space?”

“did you know who just saved your magical ass? _Me._ You should have ducked out when I told you to. I tried to bench you. You refused. And now, we're in a flying doughnut billions of miles away from Earth with no backup and one stowaway” Tony pointed at Peter “this _Thanos_ guys been living in my head for six freaking years since he sent an army to New York and now he's back and I don't know what to do. I have people I need to protect on earth, so I say we take the fight to him. I need to fight him far away as possible from earth. So when all of this over I can go back to earth and yelled at some people screaming _‘I told you so’_ for not listening to me. Yes, I’m petty like that forgive me, I haven’t had my breakfast yet”

“Alright, Stark. We go to him. But you have to understand... if it comes to saving you or the kid or the Time Stone... I will not hesitate to let either of you die.”

“great moral compass there, Doc” Tony huffed and moved to Peter. He taps each of Peter's shoulders with the edge of his hand, dubbing him as is done at a knighting. “congratulations kid, you’re an avenger now”

**

The last time Steve stepped on Wakanda the weather was in the middle of raining seasons, all the rouge team was trying to call this place their new home. But it never was, Clint and Scott finally take the deal with the government. Wanda and Vision trying to steal some time together meeting in secret, part of Steve hoping he and Tony could have at least half of what Wanda and Vision had. His train of thought were interrupted when the Quinjet finally landed and Sam opened the door showing T'Challa and the Dora Milaje waiting for them.

“Seems like I'm always thanking you for something” Steve moved forward and shakes the king’s hand, Steve opened his mouth only to stopped when the king told Bruce not to bow and Rhodey giving the man his shit eating grin

“How are we looking here, your highness?”

“You will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and-”

“A semi-stable, 100-year-old man” Bucky walked past the kingsguard taking care of injured Vision

“how are you doing Buck?” Steve smiled and hug the man

“Uh, not bad, for the end of the world” he shrugged “what’s wrong? You looked like shit”

Steve just snorted at the comment, waiting for everyone rush back to castle and leaving Steve, Bucky and Sam alone

“I saw a kid Buck, in New York”

“there would be weird if New York didn’t have any kid, Steve” Sam just chuckled at Bucky’s comment

“I mean, in the Avengers Compound. There’s little girl, she looked so familiar. Rhodey said he and Happy are babysitting the kid. Her name is Morgan, she’s almost two”

Bucky glance at Sam sharing a look and looking back at Steve “so… what’s the problem here?”

“nothing, no problem I just… I don’t know, I can’t stop looking at her, feel so familiar”

“well… let’s just focus on the war first, little girl later, go ahead, we are going to be here for patrol”

“thanks man” Steve nodded and rushed to the castle leaving the two men alone

“Sam, the girl...”

“I don’t know man, no one said anything. I somehow see the resemblance but I don’t know” Sam just shrugged and looking at the sky “guys, we have situation here”

“god I love this place”

**

They lost, some of them are vanished, collapsing into ashes. Steve walked over to the ground where Bucky ashes evaporating in the air. Looking for everyone else nearby, so confused and disoriented

“what just happened?” Rhodey muttered “F.R.I.D.A.Y update on the compound, how is Happy and Morgan?”

“the Boss Baby and Happy are fine, but most of other staff are vanishing from the compound”

“how’s Tony?”

“Boss’s signal still offline since the first invasion in New York”

“oh God” Steve just sat on the ground turning over Vision's bleached corpse looking shellshocked

“Steve, we need to go back to New York immediately, how fast can we go?”

**

For the first time in his life Steve saw Natasha looked so surprised and out of words. Well, that’s new. To her credit its only last for a second or two and she’s back to her usual calm and collected self. 

“so, Morgan really is Tony and Steve’s?”

“pretty much, yeah”

“how did he managed to keep this from public?”

“well, you know him Nat, Best lawyers’ money can buy, lots of NDA. How are you holding on Steve?”

“why did Tony hide her?”

“so that dick Ross won’t come near her. That man been itching to get his hand on Steve’s serum, if he can’t have him, he might as well go to the kid”

Steve heart sank, remembered what Happy told him _“she’s almost two”_ that means…  
It took all of his willpower not to throw up on the Quinjet. I almost killed her. 

I almost killed my own daughter

“we saw some footages, Iron Man with the spider kid”

“most of them it was empty, operated from the compound, months after her birth, sometime it was operated by me. It’s a group project”

“why are you just telling us now? Why not aying anything at the compound?”

“I just saw people turned into ashes, Steve. I don’t know what to do, Tony is… _was_ … That guy went to space! And this stupid Boss Baby Protocol technically means I’m in charge so yeah, I’m telling you now. You have a daughter and I could really use your help. I don’t know if Tony are coming back or he also turn into ashes. I don’t know what to do with kids, I once gave my 3 years old nephew money to stop crying, he didn’t stop crying and refused to give me back my money. Oh my god I need to call my mom.”

Steve just realized something, he also didn’t know what to do with kids. He turns to Natasha

“Nat, what should I do?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"You know how you always want to date someone better than your ex?”_
> 
> _“Yeah?”_
> 
>   
> _“How do you do that if your ex is Captain freaking America?”_

**somewhere in space**

Tony sitting cross legged on the floor, hand reached for his helmet turning it on. Groaning and wincing at the pain at his bruised abdomen.

"this thing on?" he tapped the forehead of his helmet "I don't know how or who will get this message, I really hope it's you, my Jellybean, or Rhodey, or maybe you Steve. I honestly don't know if anybody would ever be going to see this. it's been three weeks, each time I close my eyes I saw people turning to dust, last night it was Morgan. she just vanished right in front of me. two days ago, it was Steve and I might slightly believe I was dead and it was my hell. To see everyone I know vanished right in front of me" he sighed and rubbed his face "the good news is I'm not completely alone. I have a blue sadistic meanie with me, her name is Nebula. She helped me fixing the leaked fuel cell. The bad news is, the oxygen will run out tomorrow. I was hoping she could meet my Jellybean, think Morgan would like to meet her. Gosh I was really hoping to pull this off one last time. I should probably lie down. Please know that... when I drift off, I will think about you. Because it's always you."

Tony turned off the helmet and resting his eyes thinking about the last sleep he would have when Nebula walks over him and carrying him to the seat near them and lies him there when they saw light blinding their visions.

he tried to focusing his eyes showing a shining blonde woman staring back at him

" I'll be damned, Ariana Grande was right, God _is_ a woman"

**

Steve fought Nazis, kicked alien’s asses, hell, he fought 117 countries for his friends. But parenting is _HARD_. Morgan, which he later found out is quite a rascal, there’s no way of her doing anything without her having a tantrum or two first. 

“come on, let’s change to your pjs, don’t you want to go to sleep?”

“no” she jumped from the couch and run

“I will give you cookies, Rhodey said you like those”

“yes!”

“wow, bribery, there’s one way to do it” Natasha came from their behind

“Nat” Morgan runs to her and raised her hand asking for pick up

“I don’t know how my mother raised me alone, I’m exhausted and she’s not even listening to me” Steve slouched on the couch

“I’ll take her to bed. You should shower, you stink” She scrunched up her nose, Morgan giggled and mimicking her, scrunching up her own nose to Steve

“fine, I’ll go. No more misbehaving” he begged his daughter

“no” she giggled

**

Steve washed the blade on his hand, rubbing his chin checking the shaved beard. Looking at his own reflection staring back at him, wishing his mother were there to help him. _you’re going to love her. You will spoil her rotten, bake her pies every weekend and told her stories_. He sighed and feel the edge of the mirror shakes. He adjusts the mirror to stop the shakes, and one minutes later it shakes again, harder and longer than the first time. Grabbing the clothes laid on the floor he runs to the yard to find Carol Danvers, the flying woman who asking for Fury two weeks ago carrying a spaceship.

_oh god, please let it be him_

Natasha, Bruce and Rhodey runs behind him no one can take their eyes of the ship. Steve didn’t realize he’s been holding his breath until the door sliding down open, showing blue half robot lady holding a man that’s been haunting his dreams for the last two years, and without thinking Steve runs toward them.

**

“we’re almost heading towards earth. Try not to throw up on the ship”

“such an affectionate company” Tony muttered and grimaced at the pained abdomen

“there’s human on landing zone, should I shoot them dead?”

Tony squinting his eyes tried to focus on the blurred dots on the screen “nope, that’s mine, well used to be, I guess. See that tall blonde hunk? That’s Steve”

“that’s Steve? _Steve_ Steve?”

“how many Steve I’ve told you for the last three weeks?”

“you want me to kill him?”

“please don’t”

_”you could have saved us,_

_Why didn’t you do more?”_

“oh fuck, not again” Tony grunt and closing his eyes trying to focused and counting his breathing keeping his sudden panic attack at bay.

Nebula help him walking down the stairs when he feels a strong hand grabbing his side. Shock would be an understatement, he thought. Glancing at Nebula, eyes bewildered changing a look. Tony grips Steve's arm as he joins him, Steve pulled him on strong hold buried his face on Tony’s neck.

“you’re alive. Oh, thank god” 

Steve hand roaming his face checking for bruises and scratches and hug him again. Tony looked at him letting out the breath he didn’t realised being hold

“I lost the kid”

Took him a second to understand the kid Tony is referring to “Tony, we lost”

“is she… is she alive?”

“Morgan is sleeping, let’s get you inside”

Steve drags Tony inside, hand never leaving his waist.

**

Tony is sitting at close to the table, attached to IV bag. Looking at a holographic report showing the familiar names and faces of those reported lost. He averts his eyes when the face of Peter Parker showed up, biting his own lips hard enough to numb the pain on his gut. 

_And if you die... I feel like that’s on me_

“We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep Space scans, and satellites, and we got nothing. Tony, you fought him”

“Who told you that?” Tony looked so Surprised when Steve called his name “I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleecker Street Magician gave away the store. That's what happened. There was no fight at all”

“Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?”

Tony can feel something snapped inside his head “you know, I saw this coming a few years ago. I had a vision. I didn't want to believe it. Thought I was dreaming.”

“Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus.”

Tony’s blood start to boil. All bottled rage, pain, and guilt suddenly starts to explode out “And I needed you. As in past tense. That trumps what you need. You know what I need?” he stands, pushing things off the table with a clatter. Everyone winces at the noise. He yanking the needle out from his vein ignoring the pain and blood dripping from his arm “I need to shave. And I believe I remember telling all of you-“

“Tony, Tony, Tony!” Rhodey quickly comes in front of him, trying to stop him.

“Alive and otherwise what we needed was a suit of Armor around the world! Remember that time? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not? _That's_ what we needed!” ragged breathing, he almost swore he can hear his ears ringing

Steve clenching his jaws “Well, that didn't work out, did it?”

“I said, ‘we’d lose’ and you said, ‘We'll do that together too.’ And guess what, Cap? We lost. And you weren't there.”

“Tony, you made your point. Sit down” Rhodey tried to push his best friend

Tony walks right up to Steve's face, his voice hushing down to a venomous whisper “I got nothing for you, Cap! I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust. _Liar_.” Tony rips his Arc Reactor from his chest and shoves it into Steve's hand. “Here, take this.” _you already broke it, anyway_ “You find him, and you put that on. And you go hide.”

Exhausted, Tony falls to the ground. Out of reflex Steve grabbing his hand, holding him steady 

“I’m… I’m fine” he exhales and falls to the gound

**

Thanos is dead. We won.

But why did it feel like losing?

How am I supposed to do?

Still wearing his stealth suit, Steve entering the room, looking at Tony hooked with machine and cables. Machine beside him beeping steadily. Helen Cho writing something on his chart while talking to Bruce Banner.

“how is he, Bruce?” Steve lean at the wall farthest from Tony’s makeshift room

“there’s relatively new stab wound on his abdomen. It’s a little infected, given the makeshift gauze and improper procedure. He’s been in medically induced coma since we went to space so his organs won’t shut down. Helen also told me about the modified Extremis formula, we think it might help with the progress. Should be awake any minute now”

“will he turn red and breathe fire?” Rhodey guard is up when hearing the word “Extremis”

“not with the one-tenth formula, no. we hope”

Steve spot Morgan running to him raising her hand “Steeb, up” and asked him to carrying her to Tony “Dada sleep?”

“yes, your dad is sleeping. How are you doing today?”

“Peppy give cookie”

“aunt Pepper give you cookie? Did you eat your greens today?”

Morgan nodded, still looking at Tony

“want to sit next to your dad?” Steve moved her to the couch next to Tony, Morgan waved at Helen

“why she called you Steve?” Helen sits next to her, letting the toddler playing with the stethoscope on her neck “did she knows you the other-“ Helen stop at the hand signal Steve give her

“no, I didn’t tell her. I… I wasn’t sure Tony would allow me in her life, so I just uncle Steeb for her”

“I’m sure he will let you in her life”

“we weren’t speaking in two years, I wouldn’t hold my hopes up”

“boys are so stupid aren’t they Morgan?” she coos at Morgan, tickling her side “I’m going to take a break, are you both staying here?” Steve just nodded “now, Morgan sweety, I’m going to eat my lunch, I will come back with cookie for you later, ok?”

“byee” Morgan eyes shines when she hears a prospect of new snacks for her

Steve chuckled at her antics “I call you when he woke up”

“you’re allowed to moved closer you know”

“I’m not sure my face is the first thing he want to see when he woke up”

**

Tony opened his eyes, felt groggy and not adjusted to the light. Try his best looking around, to find Morgan napping at the couch near him. Gosh I missed my jellybean, he sighed.

“are you going to keep staring like that?” his throat rasped, hurts from the dryness “can you give me the water?”

Steve gulped and moved forward pouring him water and tilting the straw to his mouth

“am I dead?”

“no, you’re not”

“you looked like hell”

“I’m no the one who just woke up from coma”

Tony made face and looking at her daughter still napping

“she missed you” Steve also looking at her, sitting next to Tony’s bed “she wrapped everyone under her fingers”

“she had that effect on everyone” Tony smiles “she had your eyes”

“she’s perfect, it’s all yours”

“I found out about her in Germany, when they are checking my hand, insisting a blood test. I was already on the plane before the result comes out”

“why you didn’t tell me?”

It takes him a long minute to think of something. Or, more likely, it takes him a long moment to work up the courage. But then he turns at him looking at the blue eyes and says “because you would choose her”  
Taking another breath, he continues “you will choose her and stayed, out of obligation. Leaving everything behind, and you will hate yourself, and her” Tony gulped “I grew up with a father who hates my guts, who stayed and told me that I was a burden. I can’t do that to her”

Steve’s heart broke when he heard those words. “I couldn’t hate her, or you. I would always choose her, I would always choose _you_. I had a long talk with Nat, and Sam. I get it now, I can see everything from your side. I can see how I hurt you. I was trying to find way for all us are fine, but I get it now, it doesn’t work that way. I want to… I want to fixed everything. I want to fix us… if you let me” Steve reached for his hand but stopped halfway. Unsure what to do, he settles with lay his hand touching the bed. Their fingers almost touch. Steve glance at Tony, already back to sleep. He just sighed and leaned back at the chair, resting his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter ended shorter than i wanted to write :(
> 
> thanks for reading


	3. Chapter 3

**five years later**

“Will you find out where he's going next?”

“Nat…”

“please?”

The hologram of Rhodey looking at her reluctantly before he nods and signed off. Leaving her alone in the room silently chewing her tears and eat her feelings through the sandwich. She sniffled and quickly wiped her tears away when she hears an abrupt little patter coming to her.

“be careful, Morgan don’t just run like that” she can hear Steve exasperated sigh being ignored by his own daughter. Wiping out her excess tears from her face she greeting them

“auntie Nat!!” the little girl dives head first to her hug

“hello my little _Котёнок_ I missed you so much”

“Auntie Nat are you crying?”

“no, it’s allergies”

“oh… guess what, Ms. Ellie gives us homework, what am I going to do when I grow up, I said I want to be ballerina like my Auntie Nat. Papa get me ballet shoes, it’s pink like yours” she waves her new pink satin ballet shoes

“that is so pretty, how about we go practise after dinner?”

“yes! I go change first” the little girl runs grabbing the backpack her father been holding

“You know I'd offer to cook you dinner but you seem pretty miserable already.”

“You here to do your laundry?”

“and see a friend, let her teach my daughter ballet”

“parenting suits you.”

“well, I got good kid”

“how’s Tony?”

“he didn’t snarl at me anymore, so I would call that progress. We’re civil, for her. You know, I keep telling everybody they should move on and... grow. Some do. But not us”

“you know, I used to have nothing. And then I got this. This job... this family. And I was... I was better because of it. And even though... they're gone... I'm still trying to be better.”

“I think you did more than better”

They talked got interrupted when a screen pops out showing Scott Lang waving at the camera

_“Oh! Hi. Hi! Is anyone home? This is Scott Lang. We met a few years ago, at the airport? In Germany? I got really big, and I had my mask on. You wouldn't recognize me.”_

“Nat, is that old message?”

“no, it’s the front gate”

**

Scott Lang is pacing in circles, looking so confused and keep glancing at Steve and Natasha and back to Morgan who are sitting on the chair eating sandwich. 

“Scott, are you alright?”

“yeah, I’m fine I’m just… you have a kid?”

“it’s been rough five years, I know. We thought you were gone”

“holy shit, you have a kid!”

“I would appreciate for you to not cursing in front of young ears”

“it’s ok papa, I heard worse”

“that… doesn’t help my case”

“Alright. So... five years ago, right before Thanos, I was in a place called the Quantum Realm. The Quantum Realm is like its own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be small. Like really really small. Hope, she's my... She was my... well she was supposed to pull me out. And then Thanos happened, and I got stuck in there.”

“I'm sorry. That must've been a very long five years.”

“Yeah, but it wasn't. For me, it was five hours.”

Natasha and Steve share the same confused glance at each other and look back at Scott again

“See, the rules of the Quantum Realm aren't like up here. Everything is unpredictable. Hey say kid can I have some sandwich? I'm starving.” He grabbed the rest of the sandwich from Morgan’s plate

“don’t… don’t steal her food”

“it’s ok papa, he looks hungry”

“I am” Scott managed to grab Natasha forgotten sandwich next to Morgan’s

“What I'm saying is, time works differently in the Quantum Realm. The only problem is right now, we don't have a way to navigate it. But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about it. What if, we could somehow control the chaos, and we could navigate it? What if there was a way to enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point in time but then exit at another point in time? Like... Like before Thanos.”

“are you talking about building time machine?”

“no, I mean yes, I don’t know maybe? I know this sounds crazy”

“Scott, I got emails from racoon, nothing is crazy anymore”

“so, who do we talked about this?”

Steve clenches his jaw and exhaled the breath he’s holding

“Morgan, pack your bags, we need to reschedule your sleepover with Auntie Nat tonight”

**

Tony notices a black Audi pulling coming to a stop a few meters away from where he standing. Steve, Nat, and Scott get out of the car. Tony sighs. He is not looking forward to the discussion about to take place. 

“did he really need to looked like that?” he muttered under his breath

“daddy” the little girl running towards him 

“hey jellybean, what are you doing here?”

“Papa got me ballet shoes. I’m going to be ballerina like auntie Nat”

“really now? Last week you saw you want to be president of Mars?”

“I can be ballerina president”

“do you now? –“

“Tony” Steve called him “we need your advice on something, can we come in?”

**

“thanks” Steve whispered when tony give him his drink “is everything Scott just told us is really possible?”

“Scott, I’m sorry but all I can say is you got lucky, something is triggering your… time machine switch back on, that’s why you survived”

“maybe, but… now I’m here. I think we can do this. We can go back and get it all back, we can bring everyone back”

“or screw it up worse than he already has”

“Tony, I don’t believe we would” Steve leaned back at his chair

“Gotta say, sometimes I miss that giddy optimism of yours. There's no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute… what did you called it again?”

“time heist” Scott beamed, trying to hide his pride and failed

“yeah, that. No. That's not how quantum physics works.”

“Tony” Nat cut Scott when he tried to open his mouth “We have to take a stand.”

“we did Nat, and yet here we are”

“I know you got a lot on the line. You got Cap, Nat, even a daughter. But I lost someone very important to me. A lot of people did.”

“ _we all_ lost someone important for us Scott. So no, I’m not going to help you build a time machine”

Morgan runs to Tony, asking to get picked up “daddy, can we have cheeseburger?”

“you read my mind kiddo, this is why you are my favourite” Tony kissed her temple and rose from his seat “I wish you'd come here to ask me something else. Anything else. Honestly”

“Tony” Steve rose from his seat, stopping him and grabbing his hand “I get it. And I'm happy for you, I really am. But this is our second chance.”

“I get my second chance right here in my arms. I can't roll the dice again. Feel free to join our dinner, just tell F.R.I.D.A.Y about your order” 

**

“hi Pep, can I ask you a question or two?”

“Tony, it’s the middle of the night, what’s wrong?”

Tony can hear Pepper yawn from her bed trying her best to stay awake “let’s say I might just figure out something”

“what did you do?”

“time travel”

“… wow… okay, I’m awake now. Are you sure?”

“they talked about it last week, I said no, but...”

“you figure it out in a week? Wow... That's amazing, and... terrifying.”

Tony just chuckled at her claim. Rubbing his temple, he sighed “I could keep it in a box and dumped it on the lake, stop everything”

“is that what you really want to do?”

“… maybe not…” 

“but you can’t stop thinking about it”

“tell me to stop and I’ll do it”

“Tony, trying to get you to stop has been one of the few failures of my life.”

he sighed “hey, is it ok for Morgan to have sleepover with you and Happy for a while?”

**

Steve sitting outside the Avengers Compound, staring at the floor, looking beat and deep in thought. _oh great, the only possibility of this time heist is turning people into babies_. He looks up as a deafening noise breaks the silence in the distance. As he stands up, a shiny sport car is speeding towards the entrance of the compound. The car pulls over a bit too far from his spot, only to reverses back to him. The window’s roll down and he can see his own reflection on Tony Stark Designers sunglasses.

_show off_ Steve tried to hide his delight when he saw Tony’s face

“Why the long face? You turned him into a baby?”

“among other things, yeah”

“It's tricky. Dangerous. Somebody should've cautioned you against it.”

Steve sighed and looking at his shoes “you did”

“Oh, did I?” 

_there's the Tony we know_ Steve can’t hold his smile

“Thank God I'm here. Regardless, I fixed it.” Tony holds up his right hand, showing a device on his wrist “A fully functioning Time-Space GPS. Turns out, resentment is corrosive, and I hate it.”

“me too”

“We got another shot to fixing this. But I gotta tell you my priorities: Bring back what we lost? I hope so, yes. Keep what we got? we have to, at all costs. And... maybe not die trying will be nice for once”

“sounds like a deal” Steve reached out his hand which tony replies with a handshake. Both tried their best to hold the leftover tingling sensation inside them before Tony broke it of and walked to the trunk pulling something out. Steve looking at the round object with hesitation written clearly on his eyes

“Tony, I… I don’t know”

“why? He made it for you. He can’t stop talking about it for the rest of his life. Wow, crippling daddy issues aside. I had to let this out of garage before your daughter using it to go sledding. You can see the look on her face, she’s thinking about it. “

“Morgan gonna do what Morgan want to do” Steve repeating her words

“yeah… she’s bossy like that. Wonder where did she get it from. Will you keep that a little quiet?” Tony pointed at the shield “I didn't bring one for the whole team”

**

“daddy!” the hologram of her daughter shrieked

“how’s my jellybean? You been good to aunt Peppy?”

“Aunt Peppy bake me cookies. Why you never bake me cookies?”

“I tried make you once when you were younger, the oven burst into flame”

“you use blow torch to bake cookies Tony!” Tony can hear Pepper voice on the background

“Well, it's still fire, isn't it?” 

“daddy, you’re funny. How is the _’venger_? did you kick the bad guy butt today?”

“well –“ Tony stopped when he saw Steve and Nat come with takeout containers on their hand 

“PAPA, AUNTIE NAT!”

“hello _утенок_ I missed you”

“Aunt Peppy give me cookies for dinner”

“no I gave you cookies for snack”

“can I go to see ’venger?”

“soon Morgan, Papa and Daddy will be picking you up soon”

“will auntie Nat come pick me up too?”

“anything for my _кролик_ ”

“I’m sorry jellybean, but we need to go back to work, we will talk to you later for bedtime story yeah?

“ok Daddy, go kick the bad guy butt!”

“not gonna lie, that scandalous look on your face is totally worth it. I am willing to let Happy slide for teaching her saying that” Tony chuckled at Steve expression and grabbing his tangerine chicken

**

Scott is cutting his orange slices next to Natasha who sitting next to him writing notes on the progress. The best part of being the brain in a group project is you got to tell the muscle of the group to do stuff. Looking at the other guys grabbing the big metal board, panels, and cables. Watching _The_ Tony Stark ordering a racoon where to screwing bolts is something he didn’t know would need but it’s now on his checked bucket list. And not to mention the moment he watched Captain America lifting 500 pounds of metal pipes like holding a bag of rice is definitely his new phone wallpaper now. But, looking at Tony Stark standing next to Steve Rogers pointing at blueprints so casually after the fight in Germany was so bizarre to him.

"You know how you always want to date someone better than your ex?" he whispered to Nat

"Yeah?" 

"How do you do that if your ex is Captain freaking America?"

Nat stop writing on her notes and looking at Tony and Steve fixing cables and comparing blueprints. 

“oh yeah, you’re new around here. That’s what they do, before… everything” she grabs an orange slice on the plate “if you asked Steve how they do that, he might answer something like ‘dating anyone is literally better than him’ cause he’s an idiot like that.”

“what about Stark?”

“no one loved like them both. Come on, we need to test the time travel suit”

**

“so, that time stone dude”

“Doctor Strange”

“which is I found out was not a pseudonym by the way” Tony shrug “I don’t get it either”

“is he _doctor_ doctor or doctor like Tony, doctor?”

“I can assure you, Raggedy Ann. I am a real doctor. I have three PhD to show you”

“this is not the time to measuring dick, Tony”

“wow, sugarplum you hurt me” Tony bite a piece of chicken “he’s an Ear-nose-throat meets rabbit from a hat. He shouted ‘flourish’ for every hand gesture or two”

“he got nice place on the village though” Bruce scooping the ice cream tub on his hand

“oh yeah... Bleecker street. Not Manhattan nice, but it’s alright”

“Wait, he lived in New York?”

“No. He lived in Toronto. Were you even paying attention?” Tony looking at the screen “F.R.I.D.A.Y. show us the first time that Squidward came to earth. I think we secure enough city cam from the internet. It was on his necklace”

The screen showing a man with robe waving his finger throwing huge tornado on the street clearing the dust and winking at Tony, Showing a begrudgingly amused Tony for a split second. Natasha grabs the remote to rewind, zoomed and slowed the screen.

“were you two flirting in a middle of a fight?”

“he did, I just being polite and let it slide. I even let it slide when he smacked my ass. I’m generous like that”

“he did wha –“

Her question cut short with Steve coughing and he grabbing his drink “sorry, noddle went straight to wrong hole” he let out two more cough before emptying his drink

“sorry about that, wait… Guys, he live in New York. If you pick the right year, _there are three stones_ in one place.”

Bruce put down his ice cream scooper and gaped at her “shut the front door”

**

“Five years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends... We lost family... We lost a part of ourselves. Today, we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams, you know your missions. Get the stones, get them back. One round trip each. No mistakes. No do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know. But it doesn't mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives. And we're gonna win.” Steve can feel the look Tony gives him. How bad he wanted to hold the man standing next to him, giving him the giddy optimism smile that Steve missed dearly. Staring back at the chocolate orb he once called home “Whatever it takes. Good luck.”

“see you in a minute” Nat sharing a knowing smile at Steve excitedly

**

**NEW YORK 2012**

Tony looking around at the avenger tower feeling nostalgic, hand sliding and touching the surface. Scanning the interior of the living room _oh wow, I missed my tower, should I buy it back? Morgan going to love this place. I could teach her to play the piano too._

“Cap, prepare on your position, they are going to finished soon in here”

“Got it. I'm going to the elevator now.”

Tony got side tracked when he saw the 2012 Steve Rogers walking in his suit

“Uh, Mr. Rogers. I almost forgot that that suit did nothing for your ass.”

“no one asked you to look, Tony”

“it’s ridiculous, aren’t you glad I made that stealth suit? You should wear that suit again”

“I think you look great, Cap. As far as I'm concerned, that's America's ass.”

“if _that_ is what you’re calling America's ass, you should see him in the stealth suit I made him”

“can we focus on the mission first and commenting about my ass later?”

“we can multitask. All right, you're up, little buddy, see the blue square thingy? That’s the stone”

“ok tin man, flick me” Scott squatted and Tony flicked him to the 2012 of himself

“cap, the sceptre is in 80th floor, your turn”

“I’m on it” 

**

Steve enters the elevator joining the agents, eyeing the sceptre Rumlow is holding. 

“there’s been a change of plans. I just got a call from the Secretary. I'm gonna be running point on the sceptre.

“I don't understand.”

“We got word there may be an attempt to steal it.”

“I'm gonna have to call the Director.”

“That's okay. Trust me.” Steve leans over to Sitwell's ear and whisper “Hail Hydra.” 

Steve is trying his best to wipe the shit eating grins on his face when he walked out from the elevator. He can hear the Tony and Scott’s soft gasps on his earpiece. 

“holy shit did Captain America just lied?”

“how bad you want to rinse your mouth with soap saying that line, Cap?” 

“technically I wasn’t lying Scott, I just using _cheat code_ like what Tony used to do when we all playing Mario Kart”

“I didn’t use cheat code, I hacked the game so I can always have the golden mushroom with me”

“still count as cheating for me”

“fine” Tony huffed. Steve swears he can hear Tony’s eyeroll “come on, ratatouille, its go time”

“Is... is that Axe body spray?”

“yeah, you need to always have a can in case of emergency, hurry up chicken little. Things get little dicey here”

“promised me you won’t die?”

“You're only giving me a mild cardiac dysrhythmia. It’s nothing” Tony can hear Steve on the earpiece shrieking “a mild WHAT??”

“pull the pin, now!”

Scott pulled the pin and climb out from the arc reactor, kicking the suitcase toward Tony disguised himself as one of the bomb squad. Leaving everyone gathered around the 2012 Tony Stark gasping for air and fall to the floor writhing in pain.

“WAIT, THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED?”

“relax cap, I was fine, I check the reactor that night and found one pin got loose. No big dea –“ Tony words got cut when a door slammed hard on his face knocking him out to the ground for a second, showing the 2012 Hulk screaming at stairs.

“LOKI!! LOKI!” 

Tony and Scott hear 2012 Thor screaming for Loki and looking at the empty case near them

“That wasn't supposed to happen, was it?”

“oh fuck”

**

“Tony, what's going on? Tell me you found that cube.” Steve heart raced when he heard the loud bang and Tony cursing “Oh, you gotta be shitting me.” He groans looking at his old 2012 self standing in front of him.

“I have eyes on Loki. 14th floor.”

“I'm not Loki. And I don't wanna hurt you.”

Their shield clanged in deafening sound, Steve tried his best no to hurt his old self and just docked his attacks. And then he felt kick on his stomach throwing him few feet’s away

“I can do this all day.”

“Yeah, I know. I know.” 

_Gosh old me was a dick_ getting annoyed at his old pompous bore, Steve started to fight back. Throwing their shield clanging away as their fight, kicking the case containing the sceptre, future Steve jumped few stairs down and immediately grab the sceptre and knocked his old self out. Staring and noting at Tony’s comment about his ass, he runs back to their meeting point.

**

Steve jumped down from the building holding the sceptre and his shield looking around their meeting point looking for everyone when he spotted Tony and Scott sitting inside the broken car

“Cap, we have a problem”

“what’s with your head?”

“genius here just got hit in the head with the Hulk. You said that we had one shot. That was our shot. We shot it. It's shot. Six stones or nothing. Six stones or nothing–“

“You're repeating yourself, you know that, right? You're repeating yourself.”

_Oh great I’m surrounded with children._ Steve huffed “guys!” he raised his voice an octave getting their attention ending their bickering “Are there any other options with the Tesseract?”

“No, no, no. There are no other options. There's no do-overs. You said it yourself! Yo –” Scott scowling. A vein almost popped from his forehead

“wait, They were there at a– I might have a vaguely exact idea.” Tony cut him off

“how vague?”

“What are you talking about? Where are we going?”

“There's another way. To retake the Tesseract and acquire new particles. I know for a fact they were there–“

“hello, is this thing even on?” Scott pointed at his own mouth “Guys, what's up? What is it?”

“Well, it looks like we're improvising.”

“so, we are going for a little detour, and Scott can take the sceptre back to the compound” 

“Excuse me... hello” Scott waved at the two starting get annoyed for being ignored “Cap. Captain. Steve, sorry, America. Rogers. Buddy. Sir. Look, if you do this, and this doesn't work, you're not coming back.”

“thank you for the pep talk Lilliputian, you really know how to boost morale” Tony looked back at Steve “do you trust me?”

“I do”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i do not speak Russian, all those words are googled. lol
> 
> Котёнок = Kitten
> 
> утенок = Ducky
> 
> кролик = Bunny
> 
> thanks for reading <3

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading


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